Workmen's advocate., 1887-02-05

ventures to lay hands upon the "chain of economic phenomena. Do but ve1i- ture to attack the privilege of the pos scssing class, the abuse of power by Cap ital, the prevailing credit and loan sys- tenn. or even to broach more equal dis trbution of material goods, and you are in certain circles branded forthwith as the enemy of all social order, q social heretic, Communist. But this shall not deter me from recognizing freely and publicly that all individual property, material not less than intellectual, is the common good of society Like man himself, every form of the property of man possesses, besides its special charac- ter which makes it the private possession of an individual. universal side which gives the community Well-grounded claim to q right to it. That the State and the municipality appropriate part of the property of every citizen as taxes
 
 that the law limits the free control of the individuals property. But, we ask, has the propert y-holder no other duties than those which the law of the land prescribes and in ease of need compeS him to fulfill: Has he not duties to so- ciety as well as to the family, the munic- ipality. the conunonwealth? W hat the individual calls his own, whether of real or personal property, is it, can it be solely the product of his own activity :: Does he not owe by far the greater part of it to the cooperation of others, to the social labor, the labor in common. of the people who have lived before him and of his contemporaries: And as the individual attains possession of property only by means of the help of others, so he cannot enjoy itS fruits without the help of others. Only in society has property value, only in society can man rejoice in it. Hence the moral obliga- ton of every owner of property so to uHe his fortune that 1t may be of use not to himself alone bNt to the community as well, especiaIly to those of his fellow men who are less favorably placed than | himself.
 The grand Labor Movement of the last forty years has had a wholesome effect in this respect. As it has awak- ened in tine workman the consciousness of his social rights, so has it sharpened in the possessing class the sense of social duty,
 We are glad to admit that there are employers for whom the laborer is not a commodity which one buys as cheaply as possible, like every other commodity, to make the most of the use of it. In England, France, and even with us in Germany, there is no lack of individual examples of mill-owners, business men and landlords who endeaVor to improve the sad lot of their employees through increase m wages, or shortening the banks, beneficial societies and insurance 1 for old age, or by the erection of health ful dwellings,, asyluns. hospitals, educa- tional institutions. and other means. 1 Especially worthy of notice in this res pect is the system of prolit-sharing, according to which the workman re CeiyeS besides his wages q regular share of the profit obtained by his labor In England alone there are some ten l thousand workmen who hold this rea- 1 tion to their employer, and both sides have reason to be content with the sue cess. Yet, we must not overlook the fact that there everything depends more or l less upon the good will of the employer, and that in the best case certain work ingmen or groups of workingmen only are benefited by it. Valuable as such | humane endeavors are as educational | preparation for the removal of the social wretchedness which has arisen out of the wages system they are as little ade- quate as the workman attempt at self help. That great task requires another power capable of taking general and radical measures. And this brings Us to the third question::
 What has the State to do to bring about peaceful solution of the Labor Question:
 The new constitution of the Canton Zurich adopted April 18th, 1869. answers | our mlestiOn aS follows: